The Amazing Wizard Engines
by googoogaga
Summary: I have created an abomination. It is a Harry Potter/Thomas the Tank Engine parody in which the engines become humans and attend Hogwarts. It only features the Thomas characters, but I do have all the Harry Potter places. Please R&R!
1. Chapter 1 Madam Malkin's

**The Magical Amazing School For Engines What Are People**

**Chapter 1 - Madam Malkin's**

Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occassions was full of young wizards and witches, all chatting excitedly as they wandered along the aisles staring in awe at the dark Hogwarts robes hanging from the rails. At the back the shop, a skinny boy with huge glasses was standing nervously on a stool as the small and plump Madam Malkin fussed around him with a tape measure. "You're a skinny one, aren't you?" fussed Madam Malkin, pulling some robes down from a shelf. "Yes," grinned the boy. "My parents starve me to pay for their wine..."

"Quiet, you," smiled the curly-haired woman standing next to him.

Just then, a very tall and nearly as wide boy pushed through the crowds and stood up on the other stool. "Me next,"

"Please," reprimanded his mother.

"_Please_," muttered the boy.

"Just a tick, dear," mumbled Madam Malkin, fiddling with pins.

The boy turned to the other one - Edward - and said, "Hello - my name's Gordon. What's yours?"

"Edward," replied Edward.

"You going to Hogwarts too?"

"Yes..."

Gordon noddded. "I'm starting my first year. 'Course, I've known about it for ages, everyone in my family went there."

Edward regarded Gordon. "My first year too. And my parents have been there, though they sent me to a Muggle school to a bit before, because - "

"A _Muggle _school?" Gordon interrupted incredulously.

"Yeah, they wanted me to understand the Muggle world as well as the wizarding one," Edward told him, feeling a touch defiant.

"Well, if your family are _blood traitors_, I suppose that isn't up to me..."

"My family are not _blood traitors_," said Edward (whose mother was thankfully fingering a crimson velvet cloak with interest) furiously, stepping off his stool. "We just don't consider our fellow humans _inferior _because they're not _magic._ It's nothing to do with _you_ if - "

"Hello!" came a bright voice from a boy with green - _green - _hair, who was stepping up onto the stool Edward had just been standing on.

Gordon stared. "Green? Are you a Metamorphagus or something?"

"A Metamidgeyus? No, my name's BoCo."

Gordon sighed. "Don't you know _anything_?"

"Just ignore him..." said Edward quietly.

"Thanks, I think I will," smiled BoCo.

Edward smiled back, before turning towards the door.

"Um...'scuse me, but before you go..."

"Yes?" Edward turned back round to face BoCo.

"What exactly is...a Metamaffagus?" asked BoCo tentatively.

"A Metamorphagus's a wizard or a witch who can change their appearance when they like. Give themselves blue hair or something...I suppose that's why Gordon thought you were one."

BoCo laughed. "I think I understand now. But this was done with dye!"

Edward laughed too, then edged through the crowd to the exit, and out into Diagon Alley.


	2. Chapter 2 SC Ruffey

**- Chapter 2 -**

**S.C. Ruffey**

Soon Edward was in the Magical Menagerie, staring at the owls through the gaps in their cages. He liked the fluffy grey one, but he liked the snowy-coloured little one too... At least he didn't have to take Hector to Hogwarts, the bad-tempered and old grey owl that Edward's mother had got when she started Hogwarts. Hector had been found lying very still and quiet at the bottom of his cage one morning. Edward's mother had cried for three days, but Edward was secretely glad that he didn't have to take Hector - who loathed travelling even more than dust in his water bowl - on the Hogwarts Express.

"You getting an owl?"

Edward looked beside him to see a very small girl dressed in purple with long brown hair, holding a grey and squirming rat in one of her hands. "Yes, I am," Edward replied.

"I've already got my pet," she grinned. "Meet Bobby."

Edward smiled. "Very nice."

"My name's Lady. What's yours?"

"Edward."

"Nice name...I had a choice of a cat or a rat. I chose Bobby here, though. I've never liked cats much, my Aunt Jemima's tried to bite my neck when I was six."

Edward laughed, then said, "I would've liked to get a cat, but Mum wanted me to get an owl. I would've had to take our old owl Hector, if he hadn't died over the summer. I didn't like him, he was always trying to peck my face off."

Lady giggled, then turned to Edward. "Can't you decide?"

"Well, I like them all..."

"That one's nice." Lady pointed to a brown owl with ruffled-looking feathers, who was flitting around his cage and making more noise than all the other owls put together. _S.C. Ruffey _was embossed on his cage in gold letters.

* * *

Before he knew it, Edward was standing in front of the counter holding S.C. Ruffey under his arm. The person behind the counter was clad in thick black robes and was wearing a hood which covered most of their (Edward couldn't tell whether they were male or female) face, leaving only their thin lips showing, and even they had the shadow of the hood cast over them. "Um...'scuse me..." mumbled Edward.

"Yes?" replied the assistant, who sounded male. He didn't move his head - Edward had a feeling that he had never been looking down.

"I need...to pay for...this."

The assistant took S.C. Ruffey wordlessly while Edward found a handful of Galleons in the pocket of his robes. Suddenly he noticed the assistant drawing his wand from under his robes.

"Wha- I mean - is there something wrong with him?"

"Just a slightly damaged wing tip," smirked the assistant. Muttering a spell under his breath, he tapped S.C. Ruffey's wing. S.C. Ruffey squawked and jerked on the counter.

"Is he - is he OK?"

"Perfectly, perfectly fine," answered the assistant, that malicious smirk playing on his pale lips again.

Edward stepped out of the Magical Menagerie, holding S.C. Ruffey in his cage. Edward couldn't help thinking that he looked a bit off-colour, but decided to push those thoughts aside for now.

"Edward? Edward? Oh, there you are!" Edward's mother pushed through the crowds in Diagon Alley. "You've got your owl? Oh, there we are - what's its - _where are those twins?" _Looking wildly around Diagon Alley, she suddenly saw a small boy with a crop of blond curls running towards them. "There's one of them, anyway..." she sighed, looking slightly more relieved. She turned round to scold him. "Bill, where's - "

"I'm Ben," interuppted Ben, grinning wildly, "and Bill's gone into the wand shop, and Mr Ollivander thinks he's eleven, and _now _he's trying out all the wands!" he added breathlessly.

"Oh my dear!" gasped their mother. "oh my dear...we'd better get over to Ollivander's as fast as we can...you come too, Edward!" She grasped her sons' hands and ran across to Ollivander's wand shop with them.

"BENJAMIN - I mean, WILLIAM BLUEHILL, YOU PUT THAT WAND DOWN RIGHT NOW!" yelled Mrs Bluehill. Edward hung back in the doorway while she bellowed across the shop. Bill dropped the wand he had been holding (Mr Ollivander quickly caught it before it hit the floor and snapped in two) and looked chastened, while Ben giggled at his twin. After scolding Bill, Mrs Bluehill marched over to Mr Ollivander and began apologising profusely (_"Ever _so sorry...honestly, they're a nightmare, those two...") while Edward looked at the wands on display. Every one looked different from the next; different sizes, colours, shapes...it was fascinating.

Once Mrs Bluehill had finished her rather long and extended apology, Mr Ollivander stepped over to Edward. "So, you're the one getting the wand, then?" he smiled, grasping Edward's hand and shaking it hard enough so Edward felt that it had come slightly loose. "Of course," he went on, "you'll have to try out lots of wands before you find one that's right. They're all made of different types of wood, obviously, and then they all have some kind of magical substances in its core - dragon heartstring, unicorn hair..." Edward daydreamed about his new wand while Mr Ollivander gave his commentary. It was only when Mr Ollivander thrust a wand into his hand that Edward paid attention. "Try this one. Oak, dragon heartstring, twelve inches." Edward took the wand and swished it around a bit, but there was no warmth, no inner glow that came from a truly good wand. Mr Ollivander took it from him. "No, that one isn't right...but the wand chooses the wizard, remember that...this one might be better. Beech, phoenix feather, eleven-and-a-half inches." But that wand still had no effect on Edward, who again waved the thin wand nervously through the musty air. "Not that one either...aha! How about this? Quite an odd wand, certainly - ash with Thestral hair, eleven and three-quarters - but it's worth a try."

It was third time lucky. The wand felt beautifully smooth, and felt - well, _magical._ It seemed to shimmer in Edward's hand. "Perfect!" cried Mr Ollivander.

When Edward had paid for the wand, he, his mother and the mischievous twins headed to Flourish and Blotts, the bookshop. "You'd better go off and get your books," Mrs Bluehill told him, "these two have been begging me to look in that Quidditch shop, they won't leave me alone...Meet us just outside in half an hour, won't you?"

"Yes, Mum," Edward nodded, wandering of into the mass of books. He browsed all the books, reluctantly putting down _Quidditch through the Ages _when he eventually decided to start looking for the books on his Hogwarts list. The Quidditch book had been reduced to just two Sickles because its dustjacket was torn...but Edward's last few Galleons were only just enough to pay for all his school books. As Edward gazed at the book longingly, a red-haired boy appeared beside him. "Wish I'd saved some of my birthday money now," he grinned, picking up the book and flicking through the pages. "I spent it all on a new broom - ruddy good one it is though, a Comet 290. It'll be nice to have something to show off about at Hogwarts, though."

"I love Quidditch," said Edward wistfully, spotting _Charming for Beginners _on the shelf and scooping it up."

"Don't we all? My name's James, by the way."

"Edward."

"Well - " James was interuppted by someone calling "James! Where on earth are you?"

"I'd better go," shrugged James. "See you at Hogwarts?"

"See you there."


	3. Chapter 3 The Journey to Hogwarts

**- Chapter 3 -**

**The Journey to Hogwarts**

The plaform at King's Cross was filled with mostly Muggles, but a few wizards and witches could be spotted through the crowd, most of them dragging their children behind them. Anyone magical would be making their way towards the barrier between platforms 9 and 10, the barrier which led to the legendary platform 9-and-three-quarters, where the Hogwarts Express departed every year to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

In the middle of this crowd was Edward, clutching S.C. Ruffey, who was flapping in his cage, trying to keep up with an anxious Mrs Bluehill, with Bill and Ben shortly behind, giggling to themselves about something, probably Bill's misadventure at Ollivander's. The Hogwarts Express was about to depart, and as they rushed through the crowd, Edward tripped over the feet of an annoyed Muggle man in a business suit. Mumbling a quick "sorry,", Edward picked up his suitcase, which he had dropped when he tripped. He had been running so much to get to the barrier in time, he didn't notice it was there when he did reach it, crashing through it and causing S.C. Ruffey to squawk and rattle his cage. Thankfully the crimson steam train in front of the platform with its line of crowded coaches had not yet left the platform, but it seemed ready to go, and students were pouring through the doors of the coaches. Edward saw BoCo hovering near the back of the crowd, looking bemused.

"Thank goodness we got here on time," puffed Mrs Bluehill wearily, bending down to kiss her eldest son, before pushing him through the hordes of people moving towards the train. "Take care, Edward. And write to us every week, won't you, and - leave it _alone, _Ben!" She hurriedly waved at Edward, who was already being shoved towards the train by the seemingly hundreds of other students surrounding him, at the same time pulling Ben away from the barrier.

Meanwhile, Edward had managed to get through the door to one of the coaches, but in was crammed with people. Edward moved through the coaches, searching for a space. Eventually, after trawling through six jam-packed coaches, he found a coach with a few free seats. Wonderfully, BoCo and Lady were sitting by the window, and they waved for Edward to sit down with them. Edward gratefully sat down next to Lady, putting S.C. Ruffey and the suitcase up in the luggage rack. Lady and BoCo had their pets with them, Lady stroking Bobby as he crawled over her hand and BoCo desperately trying to control an overexcited tortoiseshell cat, who had spotted S.C. Ruffey in the luggage rack and was trying to attack him, despite S.C. Ruffey being almost twice its size.

BoCo finally managed to push the cat in the carry case he was holding under his arm. Looking visibly more relaxed, he grinned at Edward, as he shoved the carry case up in the luggage rack next to S.C. Ruffey. "Her name's Diseasel - Dizzy for short."

"My owl's called S.C. Ruffey and - he's falling out of the rack!" Edward shrieked, grabbing hold of the cage and pushing it back behind a suitcase.

"Dizzy, you _idiot_!" scolded BoCo. "No - leave him alone!" Dizzy had slotted her paw through a gap in the door of her cage, and was reaching out to swat an anxious S.C. Ruffey.

Lady looked up from Bobby. "What's that mad cat doing _now?" _

"She's - she's - ow! She's _biting_ me!"

Ignoring BoCo, Lady turned to look at Edward. "You're finally here, then!" she greeted him cheerfully. "Me and BoCo've been here _years, _we thought you'd never turn up. Nice to see, you here anyway - and, by any chance, do you know _this?" _She pointed at BoCo, who was now wrestling with Dizzy through the door of her cage.

"BoCo? Yes, I met him in Diagon Alley, in Madam Malkin's."

"He's a bit mad, isn't he?"

Edward laughed. "Yes, he is more or less absolutely crazy. How'd you know him?"

Lady shrugged. "I - "

But she was interuppted by a plump, apron-wearing woman pushing a trolley full of delicious-looking snacks. Edward and Lady did not hesitate to buy a packet of Chocolate Frogs each - BoCo, however, took a few seconds to marvel at the exotic wizard snacks, before gazing at them cautiously, until Edward persuaded him to buy a packet of Every-Flavour Beans. Edward opened the chocolates in eager anticipation, only to find a Ptolemy card.

"Not _another_ one!" groaned Edward, dropping Ptolemy onto the table.

Lady leaned across the table in interest. "You've got _Ptolemy_?" she said in wonder, examining the card.

"Yes. Ptolemy card number one thousand and one."

"I'd do _anything _for a Ptolemy, you don't know how lucky you are. He's the only one I don't have, I've got at least five of every other one. Tell you what, I'll swap you this for my card. It's only another Merlin."

Edward stared. _He _didn't know how lucky he was? Not even Bill and Ben, who seemed to get all the luck with the Chocolate Frog cards, had ever got a Merlin card. They had every card in the Chocolate Frog universe - apart from Merlin.

Grinning, Edward handed over Ptolemy and recieved a Merlin card in return.

"Who is Ptolemy, anyway?" asked BoCo, taking Edward's newly acquired Merlin card and staring at Merlin, who was turning his head to smile at his audience.

Edward and Lady immediately started gabbling about Ptolemy and his feats.

"You haven't heard of _Ptolemy_?"

"He's only the greatest wizard who ever _lived_!"

"He defeated _millions _of Dark Wizards, way back in medieval times, he was _amazing!_"

"You know, in the Wizarding War of 1482, he-"

But Lady's words were cut off as they all turned to gaze at what appeared to be a giant cardboard box on legs. Suddenly, though, the box was lowered carefully to the ground, revealing the red-haired James, who Edward had met in Flourish and Blotts.

"Oh, hi, Edward!" James called. He lifted a truly enormous brown rat from the box, about as long as James' forearm. Bobby squealed and dived under the table. Dizzy hissed at the giant rat, and even S.C. Ruffey looked uncomfortable in its presence. "Oh," said James looking slightly anxious, "I see you've met Tiny."

BoCo spluttered.

"It wasn't my fault he's so big," James began hotly. "That _idiot _Gordon did the Enlargio or Gorge or whatever it's called charm on Tiny and his box. He's down a few carriages back, showing of like mad about all the stupid spells he 'knows'." James had gone redder than ever. "And I couldn't remember the spell to shrink it - well, I don't know it yet, but really - so now I'm carrying a monster rat around with me. I'm sick of that lot, I was sitting with them but I didn't want them to start on _me..._" The four of them all laughed at James' words. He went to sit down with them, but as the train came to a sudden halt, the mass of brown fur that was Tiny spilled out of the box and scrambled over the table, scattering Chocolate Frogs. As James chased him around the carriage desperately, Edward, Lady and BoCo clambered down the steps and onto the Hogsmeade platform.


	4. Chapter 4 The Sorting

**- Chapter 4 - **

**The Sorting**

Edward, Lady, BoCo and James stepped out of their carriage, amdist the hundreds of other Hogwarts students swarming onto the platform, all of whom seemed much bigger than Edward and also seemed to know exactly what they were doing. BoCo was gazing in amazement and something in the corner of the platform, which no-one else - including Edward - could, by the looks of it, see. The four of them all hovered anxiously near the train, not knowing what to do - but suddenly, they heard a seemingly distant voice - "First-years over here! First years, come here!" Following the ringing voice, Edward found that it was coming from a small man at the other end of the platform, who had very bright - almost orange - red hair, which was beginning to recede slightly. He turned to the others. "Come on," he said, "We're meant to be up there, by the look of it..."

Suddenly looking alert again, BoCo nodded and the four of them made their way over to the redheaded man. A few other first-years were standing around him. Although he was short, the confused-looking children still looked miniscule somehow next to him. Even Gordon looked somewhat smaller than he had in Madam Malkin's. As soon as the other first-years had milled over (the redheaded man calling encouragingly to them all the time), the man smiled down at them. "Everyone here?...good. Come on then, follow me." Most of the first-years - including Edward - felt happily apprehensive about what was coming, but a few looked downright panicked about what awaited them through the doors of the Hogwarts castle.

The man chatted happily to them the whole time. "I'm Duke...Duke Robinson. Gamekeeper at Hogwarts...I take care of the grounds, you know." A few students chatted happily back - James for one - but most were feeling so full of anticipation that they could barely do much more than grin excitedly to each other.

Duke eventually led them towards a huge, glittering moat. The school stood majestically across the water, shimmering slightly in the autumn sun. "Into the boat, then," Duke said brightly. Everyone's eyes moved down to a long, Viking-style rowing boat bobbing on the water, tethered by a fraying rope. A little boy who looked about four gasped at a dark tentacle that glinted at the water's surface, then began to cry. Gordon smiled at him. "Don't worry," he told him, looking kind. "It's only the giant squid..." Edward spluttered with anger at Gordon's feigned consideration. Meanwhile, the little boy cried harder. Edward was sure he couldn't be nearly old enough to go to Hogwarts...but that wasn't important right now, as they were now all trying to fit in the boat, which suddenly seemed smaller with forty or fifty students crammed into it (Duke was comforting the small boy, who looked decidedly happier). Getting the students sitting near the edges to help (Lady picked up an oar that was longer than her and pushed it through the water in a surprisingly determined way), Duke began to row them across the wide moat. A considerable amount of splashing went on, and most of the students climbed onto the grassy bank shivering from the water that had splattered over them.

Duke led them through the wide wooden doors into the brightly lit Entrance Hall. A very tall professor with messy-looking greyish-black hair hurried over to them. "These the first-years, Duke?...Ah, good. Come in here then, all of you." Looking very imposing above the mostly small first-years, he took them into a chamber at the side of the Entrance Hall. At first, Edward thought it was the Great Hall he had heard so much about from his parents, but soon realised it was much too small for that - though at the moment, every aspect of Hogwarts seemed rather terrifyingly huge. Duke had gone now, and the tall professor walked to the front of the room to speak to the first-years who were now restless with excitement. "Now." He looked around the students, who now gazed up at him in a kind of hushed admiration. "Now, in a moment, when you are taken into the Great Hall, you will be Sorted into your houses. The four houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each of you will be undergo a short test which will determine which house you would best fit into."

Edward was nonplussed. A test? But - but - what _was _the test? And - if he managed to fail - which now seemed horrifically likely - what would happen? Would he get sent home? The idea of returning to his parents like that - not even able to _get _into Hogwarts - filled Edward with a sudden dread. He'd practically be a Squib...he _would _be a Squib.

But there wasn't time to muse over Squibs right now - the professor was leading them into the Great Hall already. Edward's mind was temporarily taken off his worries as he, like every other first-year, gasped at the sheer brilliance of the Great Hall. The ceiling, miles above the head of any of the hundreds of people in the Hall, was specially designed to look exactly like the sky above it. Right now it showed a beautiful sunset, golden and pink and dotted with wispy grey-blue clouds. On ground level, five long, polished wooden tables were crowded with students and teachers alike. A large stage, framed by huge velvet curtains, stood at the front. The first-years were lined up beside this stage. All that was on the stage was a chipped stool with a tattered hat on top of it. The test didn't look too gruelling right now - but Edward still felt slightly anxious of what was to come.

Before they were Sorted, though, the hat began jumping up and down on its stool, in a kind of dance, and its brim split open like a mouth. It began to sing an odd-sounding but brilliant song, with rather rambling lyrics. When it reached the end of its song, everyone in the Hall clapped and cheered wildly. All too soon, the Sorting began.

The tall professor began calling out names from a long scroll of parchment, starting with "Biggs, Gordon!"

Gordon, who fitted his name incredibly, marched up to the stage. Scooping up the hat, he placed it on his head and sat on the stool. It was only a few moments before the hat's fabric mouth opened again and it shouted "_Slytherin!" _in a voice that reverberated across the Hall. Meanwhile, Edward breathed a sigh of relief - all he had to do was put on the hat! He _wouldn't _end up being sent home, branded a Squib.

Gordon dropped the hat back on its stool and hurried over to a table which Edward now realised was clearly marked 'Slytherin'.

Looking down at his parchment, the professor went to call out the next name on the list.

"Bluehill, Edward!"

Edward's turn seemed to have come far too soon. It took him a second to realise what was happening, then suddenly he remembered and stepped up onto the stage. Taking the hat, he sat on the stool and became aware of the hat talking to him.

"Well, you've certainly got a good mind...brave, too. You could be a Gryffindor...maybe...but perhaps there's more to you than just braveness? Good logic...clever...I think you'd do well in..._Ravenclaw!_" Edward hastily placed the hat back on its stool and hurried to the Ravenclaw table, as the teacher continued to call out names. Most of them Edward didn't pay much attention to - apart from a few. "Jones, Lady" was sorted into Ravenclaw, and came to sit next to Edward. The boy who had cried at the squid's tentacle - "Stewart, Peter Sam" - was sorted into Hufflepuff. "McIntosh, Donald" was another Ravenclaw (his twin, Douglas, became a Hufflepuff). "Redhead, James" became a Gryffindor, while "Small, Percy" joined Edward at the Ravenclaw table. "Vickers, BoCo" was another Hufflepuff.

Finally, as the last first-year was sorted, Professor Hatt, who most of those from wizarding families had heard reams about from their parents, stepped up onto the curtained stage.

The Headmistress was a slim, dignified woman with neatly bobbed pale brown hair, though she was rather short, so her elegant lilac robes trailed behind, still somehow looking graceful. The professor who had supervised the Sorting hurried over to the top, staff-filled table and took a seat at it.

Once the last few mumblings and coughs had finished, Professor Hatt's serious face broke into a smile, and she suddenly looked rather more like a human being than a celestial wonder. She began to speak in a surprisingly loud voice, which reached all the corners of the Hall.

"Now, although we have reached the evening, I don't think it is _quite _bedtime yet, so I will not be making a speech right now." Laughs from the crowds of students.

"So I will say nothing to you this year except to welcome our new first-years, who, from my own experience, are probably feeling very insecure and somewhat excited about what on earth is happening."

A few of the first-years - Gordon for one - looked deeply insulted, but most of them laughed slightly nervously at how perfectly Professor Hatt had captured exactly what most of them were feeling.

"So - now I have have said everything relevant - tuck in!"

Tureens of rich soup, bowls of crispy potatoes, huge jugs of orangey-yellow pumpkin juice, glistening stew and, for some reason, a small plate of chocolate-coated marshmallows, were suddenly whisked onto the tables. Students and teachers reached for the slightly rusty ladles and spooned food onto their golden plates. Edward followed their example, but before he ate, he took in some of the other people crowding the Hall's long tables. James sat at the Gryffindor table; his red hair and permanantly embarrassed face made him blend into the startingly red tablecloth. Each house seemed to have a ghost - Gryffindor's was a moustachioed man in an overlarge ruff whose hands hovered self-consciously around his neck.

Hufflepuff had a golden-yellow tablecloth, and was decorated with matching brass candlebras. BoCo waved; Edward waved back, then glanced at their ghost, a round, jolly man dressed in friar's cothes.

The Slytherin table was decked almost entirely in green, from the silky tablecloth to the tiny emeralds - Edward was sure they were glass - embedded in the handles of the cutlery. Their ghost sat between Gordon and another boy almost as big as him, and was a thin-looking baron with a cunning expression on his translucent face. His long robes seemed to be splattered with a shimmery kind of liquid - Edward made a note to stay out of his way.

And what of Edward's own Ravenclaw table? Without even being biased (well, maybe a little bit), Edward thought the Ravenclaw table was the most beautifully decorated. The tablecloth was a rich shade of royal blue, with maroon embroidery around the edges, while bright blue candles flickered in silver candlesticks. Ravenclaw possessed the only female ghost, a woman in a long gown who seemed permanantly weepy. Every so often she glanced at the Slytherin ghost and wailed slightly into her handkerchief, which didn't appear to have much effect on her tears.

Edward began to eat the food on his plate, and found his parents were right - Hogwarts food was some of the best he'd ever tasted.

The feast lasted several hours, a generally jolly mood that one would not normally associate with going back to school permeating the Hall. The ceiling turned from pinky-gold to inky black, spattered with stars and a large silver-white moon glowing amongst them.

Finally, just as a few first looked as if they would have liked to put their faces on their plates and fall asleep there and then, Professor Hatt called the feast to an end, and the prefects - now recognisable by the large badges bearing a 'P' pinned to their robes - led the sleepy first-years to the Ravenclaw dormitory. As he was so tired, Edward only noticed one of the prefects - and he was rather hard to ignore, given his enormous height.

The Ravenclaw common-room was located at the top of a very tall tower, its narrow sides filled with winding stone steps. These steps went on for seemingly hours before they finally stopped at a large, blank wooden door, whose only decoration was a slightly tarnished bronze knocker, intricately carved into the shape of an eagle. To the collective gasp of the first-years, its pointed beak opened and it cawed, "Forwards I am heavy, backwards I am not...what am I?"

One prefect answered, almost instantly, and in a slightly bored voice, "A ton."

"Good logic." replied the raven, twitching its beak into a sort of smile. As they all climbed through the portrait hole, the prefect muttered to her friend "It's done that one _before..."._

The Ravenclaw common room was really quite a beautiful place - graceful, draped in blue and brown, a flickering fireplace lighting the room, with squashy velvet armchairs crammed in front of it. A white marble statue of an elegant woman stood majestically at the back of the room. Edward wanted to stay there for a while, taking in that wonderful room, but all to soon they were being taken up the two staircases spiralling from either side of the room, the boys up one, the girls up another. The dormitory was smaller and darker, yet still it had delicately embroidered tapestries hanging on the walls, and was framed handsomely by five slightly aged four-poster beds; suddenly, Edward wanted more than anything else to climb into one of those beds and fall straight asleep.


End file.
